When Marc Almond stormily shattered Tender Cell in 1984, you’d be forgiven for having thought he’d chosen by no means to court docket the charts once more. Marc & The Mambas, the aspect venture he had cultivated throughout two albums, had launched brooding, intense affairs designed to evangelise to his transformed. That ever-loyal viewers would lap it up, however neither Mambas album would actually cross over commercially.
1985’s Tales Of Johnny was the sound of Almond rising from his shell, ushering a wider viewers again in the direction of him. In his Tainted Life biography, he calls it his “Behaving Myself” album, however he refused to take the simplest choice. Pulling collectively members of The Mambas as The Keen Sinners, Almond continued to create one thing quite subversive, even when it was dressed up in a extra accessible type.
The album
This time, the plush orchestration that characterised lots of the artists that impressed him would bathe Almond’s richly theatrical melodies in a hotter sheen. August’s “Stories Of Johnny” was the set’s first single and returned him to the UK charts as a soloist for the primary time since Tender Cell’s finale, its No.23 success launching the album to No.22 when it was launched in October. He’d had a High 3 hit that summer time with the throwaway smash “I Feel Love (Medley),” a duet with Bronski Beat, however this felt just like the fully-fledged return.
Set opener “Traumas Traumas Traumas” continued the seduction, its hypnotic rhythm daring the listener again to the dancefloor and, with its apparent nod to Scott Walker, in the end drawing a wider viewers again to his work. Second single and third monitor “The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye)” was a darker, extra brooding piece, with its UK No.55 peak most likely serving because the palette-cleanser Marc was trying to find after the lighter distraction of the primary single.
“Love Letter” might be essentially the most business the set will get. As a No.68 single launched alongside the album, its nagging melody is the closest Almond involves sounding like he was again together with his former band, its shuffling synths edging him nearer to a euphoric pitch that he hardly ever shared at this stage of his profession. Its comparatively poor displaying on the UK charts displays its timing alongside the album and, probably, the tectonic shift Reside Help had created that summer time – subtlety and nuance largely deserted in favor of broader, baser brushstrokes.
“The Flesh Is Willing” jitters away darkish lyrical content material to a lighter plain; it’s additionally brighter and extra accessible than any of his songs might be anticipated to be. “Always” is hotter nonetheless: a presumably slighter however definitely underappreciated pop monitor that echoes a lot of Marc’s best lighter moments. Later successes reminiscent of 1988’s “The Stars We Are” have their origins right here, and you’ll think about it within the palms of artists securing radio play right now and see it, effortlessly, at residence on an version of High Of The Pops.
If earlier tracks had teased – the supply of a twirl around the dancefloor by no means fairly being adopted by – then “Contempt” lastly places out. Containing echoes of the songs his mother and father loved, it was served with that figuring out edge so uniquely Almond’s personal. And if “Contempt” owed its pedigree to the form of British pop prevalent earlier than The Beatles tore up the rulebook, “I Who Never” was one more nod to the previous. That is the form of file Cilla, Dusty, Sandie or Lulu would have scrapped over of their prime – dense harmonies anchoring one other tune that actually ought to have been a single.
“My Candle Burns” is a extra brooding affair designed to convey the temper down somewhat, making ready the listener for “Love And Little White Lies,” the showstopper. Hovering in its ambition and refusing to be tethered by a extra conventional tune development, it’s a curtain nearer that represents the album’s one really theatrical second.
The album’s legacy
With its echoes of 60s pop, the apparent nods in the direction of Almond’s heroes, and a golden glow reflective, maybe, of a greater temper, the momentum behind Marc’s prolonged solo profession was constructed right here. The albatross of Tender Cell’s huge success – and that tune particularly – have been to generally plunge the singer again into sudden shade, however there’s a lightness of contact right here that followers hadn’t heard for a while.
Nothing comes near matching the excessive camp of that summer time’s duet with Bronski Beat however, for the primary time in years, Almond gave the impression to be having enjoyable once more. There was nonetheless that curiosity in these troubled areas that few different musicians dared to discover, however the invitation was real, if delivered with a figuring out smile. It was protected to come back in – and hotter than anticipated.
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